FINAL UPDATE, MONDAY, 2:30 PM: Final numbers are in for Sony’s 22 Jump Street, Think Like a Man Too, and The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Warner Bros.’ Edge of Tomorrow, Jersey Boys, Blendedand Godzilla, Disney’s Maleficent and Frozen (in Japan), Fox’s How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Fault in Our Stars, The Other Woman, and Uni’s batch of films, Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie, Neighbors, Boyhood,and A Million Ways to Die in the West, Transcendence (which debuted in France and Japan) and Heaven Is For Real. We just updated territory by territory breakdowns of Paramount’s Transformers: Age of Extinction.

We have overall cume numbers of Paramount’s Transformers: Age of Extinction now. Internationally, it was estimated at $201.3M yesterday and the studio says its final number for the weekend is $202.1M. In China, the estimate was $90M and today’s final the studio says is $91.9M. The worldwide gross sits around $299.6M based on true domestic three-day domestic grosses of $97.5M. Paramount’s claim of a $100M three-day box office is being widely disputed by all other distributors in the U.S. who also think the $97.5M is about right. In 10,152 locations, the Michael Bay-directed movie opened No. 1 in all 37 territories that it debuted in and Paramount Pictures was 35% bigger than the last installment, 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon.

4TH UPDATE SUNDAY 3:28 PM PT: Michael Bay’s fourth in the Transformers franchise, as expected, dominated international play this weekend. With what Paramount says on Monday is a final of $202.1M, Age Of Extinction is the biggest international opener of the year and has bragging rights as the biggest imported bow ever in China at what was estimated at $90M but Monday showed $91.9M. China was the top market for Transformers: Dark Of The Moon which tallied $165.5M in 2011. TAOE included an added incentive for the Chinese given its Mainland locales, home-grown star Li Bingbing and a big publicity push that boasted the Hong Kong world premiere and the closing-night berth at the Shanghai Film Festival. The overall international numbers for the Top 10 films this weekend are worth 56% more than last weekend, but they are still 3% down on the comparable frame in 2013. That seems kind of surprising.

Recent Comments

The international numbers for TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION are so jarringly huge(+200 MILLION DOLLARS), it just floors...

8 months

How long can this transformers train keep going for??

bob

8 months

Transformers... Again? Yawn!

But, looking at last year, there was World War Z with $70.1M, Man Of Steelwith $52.2M, Monsters University with $44.2M, Despicable Me 2 with $40.1M and local Chinese romancer Tiny Times, which debuted to $42.8M. Studios this year were already getting out of the way of the World Cup, and with TAOE sucking a lot of air out of the Asian markets, ultimately the result has its reason. One film that did creep up into the top echelons this weekend as local counterprogramming to TAOE in China was The Breakup Guru. The romantic comedy opened to $20.57M in two markets – China and the U.S. – and helps explain why holdovers like Maleficent or Godzilla dropped in their Middle Kingdom runs. (More on Breakup Guru below in the territory round-ups). TAOE has yet to bow in several territories, in many cases because of the ongoing World Cup, and could yet provide further records. They include the UK (July 5), Mexico (July 11), France (July 16), Germany and Brazil (July 17) and Japan (August 8). Of those, only France, Germany and Brazil are still moving forward in the mega-football tourney, so having their release dates fall after the final looks somehow prescient. The European premiere for TAOE will be held in Berlin this week.

On deck for next week, How To Train Your Dragon 2 flies to China and a host of other markets while romcom Begin Again, which had a strong domestic debut this weekend, rolls out in Russia and Thailand among others; horror pics Bunshinsaba III and Deliver Us From Evil hit a handful of territories, and Melissa McCarthy-starrer Tammy pulls up in the UK among other markets. We’ll keep a close eye on the latter from Warner Bros. McCarthy’s profile has been rising internationally with each of her films increasing in overseas box office — The Heat made $71.5M v Identity Thief’s $41.8M.

2ND UPDATE, SUNDAY, 9:35 AM PT: We’re still waiting on international estimates from some of the studios, but in the meantime, here’s the skinny on the Autobot in the room (and, further down, on the other films that have reported). It’s Monday and we now know that Michael Bay’s Transformers: Age Of Extinction has scored the biggest opening weekend internationally of 2014 with what Paramount says is $202.1M from 37 territories. The previous record holder for the year was X-Men: Days Of Future Past which opened to $172M in late May. TAOE‘s domestic Sunday estimates of $100M domestic opening didn’t happen so it didn’t break $300M worldwide. It is, instead around $299.6M, as my colleague Anita Busch reports. Also, we believe it is the only time in history that a film has opened to $90M+ in the two biggest territories in the world, the U.S. and China.

TAOE was No. 1 in each of the markets where it opened, playing at 10,152 locations. Of those, 4,400 were in China (an exact screen count has not been broken out – although I hear it was on a record 148 IMAX screens there with 19 of the top 20 locations). In the Middle Kingdom, TAOE bested Iron Man 3 for the biggest opening weekend ever for an imported movie. Early estimates put it at $90M for the frame and Paramount said it actually came in at $92M. That’s double Transformers: Dark Of The Moon in 2011 and a little less than $30M more than IM3‘s $64.5M in 2013. The all-time record holder is still local pic Journey To The West: Conquering The Demons with $92.46M. IMAX had a three-day weekend gross of about $10M in China which was double The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug‘s $4.55M and well outperformed IM3‘s six-day opening weekend of $6.9M. Across all international markets, TOAE delivered $16.6M in IMAX, a record on 266 screens.

Also across all markets, TAOE was up 35% over Dark Of The Moon. It had the 2nd-biggest opening of all time in Russia with $21.7M at 1,100 locations. Of that, 3D repped 80% of the total gross. Paramount says today that the bow is a new benchmark for the studio and is 48% bigger than DOTM. IMAX also had a milestone in Russia where the weekend was worth $2.6M on 34 screens.

Across Asia, where the film was expected to scale new heights, it had big bows in several markets. In Korea, the movie was the top opener of the year with $21.7M (Monday’s figures) from 1,533 locations. It had 80% market share there where it bowed bigger than Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days Of Future Past. On 12 IMAX screens, it made over $1M. TOAE remains, however, the 2nd best debut for the Transformers franchise – DOTM was only slightly higher with $21.8M in 2011. The Philippines was good for $5.7M from 135 locations – and nearly 100% market share – to track 19% over the last movie. This was a Paramount and franchise record with the 3rd biggest opening weekend of all time. Malaysia was the all-time industry opening with $6.7M from 119 sites. The debut also marks a new record for Paramount and the franchise, outperforming DOTM by 45%. Indonesia ($4.9M down significantly from the $5.7M that was estimated) and Hong Kong ($5.1M) were the biggest openings of all time in their markets and Singapore was the top four-day opening weekend ever with $4.2M at 28 locations. In Taiwan, TAOE scored the 2nd biggest opening weekend of all time with $8.1M. There, it played on seven IMAX screens for $600K. Finally, in Australia, TOAE earned $9.6M from 264 locations.

Megan Colligan, Paramount’s president of domestic marketing and distribution says, “We are doing so well internationally. We still have all of Europe and Brazil yet to bow. We’ve purposely avoided World Cup countries, but those are coming in the next few weeks. The next territory to open is Germany.” Indeed, the film has avoided the football frenzy in Latin America and Europe where it will begin to invade as the tournament wanes. Likewise, pretty much all other movies avoided this weekend to get out of the way of Galvatron and company. Below is news on international holdovers and one new entry in the UK.

How To Train Your Dragon 2 swooped down on an extra $19.2M this frame to push its cume past the $100M mark with $108.6M, better than the estimates from Sunday. The film played to non-football fiends in Mexico with $3.9M in its 2nd weekend and a cume there of $12.29M. Brazil is also holding strong as football counterprogramming, adding $2.79M in the No. 1 slot for a cume of $11.47M, much better than expected. In Australia, the DreamWorks Animation adventure took 2nd place on a 28% drop with $2.3M for the frame and a cume of $11.27M. As in Oz, Dragon 2 faced off with Transformers in Russia and took the 2nd spot with $2.1M and a cume of $26M, also better than predicted. There are 14 more markets to come next weekend.

While it crossed $200M domestically this weekend, Disney‘s Maleficent continued its international run adding $18.3M in 54 territories (93% of the international marketplace). In its 2nd weekend in China, the film earned $2.4M with a cume there of $38.5M on 1,000 screens in 54 territories. It’s performing well in a tough spot that saw it sandwiched in between the opening two weeks ago of Godzilla and this week’s TOAE bow. The overseas total is now $386.1M and the film has become the highest-grossing live-action Angelina Jolie title of all time at home, abroad and combined. The bump this weekend makes it the 4th highest-grossing global release of 2014 behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Maleficent hits its last international market on July 5 when it ventures into Japan.

Fox’s winning world Cup counterprogrammer The Fault In Our Stars has lifted its cume to $86.7M after adding $13.8M this weekend in 54 markets. Openings in Latin America included No. 1s in Argentina ($922K), Peru ($609K), Ecuador ($182K) and Uruguay ($73K). Elsewhere, the UK added $2.86M for a cume of $11.15M. In Germany, TFIOS was No. 1 in its 3rd week with $1.3M and a 19% drop for a $5.79M cume.

Sony’s 22 Jump Street added an estimated $9.5M in its 4th frame for an overseas cume of $54.4M. Belgium was a No. 1 opening with $579K on 40 screens, about three times more than 21 Jump Street. Norway was also a No. 1 bow with $805K on 129 screens, five times more than the earlier movie. Elsewhere in Scandinavia, the film was up 2% in Sweden for a $1.5M cume and in Denmark it was down 38% for a $1M cume – the movie was No. 1 for the second week in a row in both markets. Also holding over in the UK, the Channing Tatum-Jonah Hill comedy was down only 21% in its fourth weekend of release with $2M and a $25.5M local total.

With no other studio releases in its way, Universal’s Mrs. Brown’s Boys D’Movie had a clear path to No. 1 in the UK this weekend. Based on the popular Irish sitcom which aired on BBC One, the big screen adaptation grossed an estimated $7.2M at 517 dates. Brendan O’Carroll, in drag, plays the loudmouth matriarch Agnes Brown in the movie that’s skewing to adults and seniors, Universal says. It’s the studio’s biggest opening of 2014 in the UK and Ireland and has 32% of the market share. In Ireland, it was the biggest opening of 2014 and the biggest ever for a local movie. Universal also has Australia and New Zealand where the TV show has a growing following. It opens there on July 24. NOTEWORTHY:Mrs. Brown’s Boys now becomes the third biggest June comedy of all time, right behind Bruce Almighty and 22 Jump Street.

Warner Bros’ Edge Of Tomorrow added $7.5M (up from $6.9M estimated) from 5,023 screens in 63 markets. The international cume is now $235.1M. China remains the top market for the film with a total of $63.4M, followed by Korea at $35.3M, Russia ($20.5M), the UK ($12.2M) and France ($8.4M). Meanwhile, Warner Bros.’ other big film, Godzilla (from Legendary Pics) has made $291M to date with most of its gross coming from China ($75.1M); the next biggest territory is the UK with $28.8M.

Adam Sandler comedy Blended took in $6.9M from over 3,685 screens for an international cume of $32M. That is from 1.3M admissions. The past weekend saw Mexico bow with $2.9M with 753 admissions from 1,115 screens to garner a No. 2 opening. The top markets are Russia ($4.6M), the UK ($3.3M) and Australia ($3M).

X-Men: Days Of Future Past may have lost the 2014 international opening record to Age Of Extinction this weekend, but it is still mutating in 62 markets. The weekend box office was $6.4M for an overseas total of $491.6M. That takes the franchise’s total worldwide box office above $3B with this installement’s worldwide total comprising $715M alone. In Venezuela, which was DOFP’s final market to release, it was No. 1 with $1.15M for a cume of $4.5M.

Acting as a sci-fi alternative for the soccer-loving set, Transcendence opened in France this week in both 2D and 3D versions and earned a No. 1 berth with $2.1M from 520 screens, according to Lionsgate’s final grosses on Monday. In total, the film drew an additional $5.6M from 30 markets and lifted its running total to $66.7M. The top grossing markets for this Johnny Depp-starring sci-fi film remains China with $22.3M, followed by South Korea with $5.2M and Germany with $4.4M.

In its 16th consecutive week at No. 1 in Japan, Frozen saw a decrease of 25%, one of the bigger drops its experienced throughout this amazing run. It added $2.7M for a local haul of $237.1M. (Will another Disney film, Maleficent, be the one to topple Frozen when it hits Japan next week?) The movie’s international cume is now an incredible $863.4M with a worldwide cume of $1,263.716M. If you’re wondering how this phenomenon has just kept on going, The New Yorker this past week had an interesting piece titled “How Frozen Took Over The World.”

Neighbors added an estimated $1.9M at 1,275 dates in 34 markets this weekend for an overseas total of $95.5M. The comedy bowed in Chile, where World Cup fever has been running at a pitch – although the home side was knocked out on Saturday night. It earned $86K at 31 locations to place No. 5. In World Cup host country Brazil – which advanced on penalties against Chile – the movie held at No. 6 in its 2nd frame with an estimated $520K at 180 dates for a total of $1.6M. There are 12 more markets to come with the current worldwide total at $242.7M. Neighbors opens Korea and Mexico on July 3rd.

Worth noting is that Sony’s all-important franchise,The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is now at $503.8M in international markets, after pulling in another $150K on 220 screens in 35 territories. It is winding down the end of its run now. Will be interesting to see where this one ends up as it really needed to make a total of $755M all in to reap some profit.

Think Like a Man Too grossed $658K on 101 screens in 13 territories for a total international cume of $972K. Sony noted that they had good openings throughout the Middle East, including $352K from the United Arab Emirates, which doubled the opening of the first installment there.

Warner Bros says Clint Eastwood’s Jersey Boys had good holds, adding an estimated $1.1M in 12 markets. The international total after two frames is $3.7M. The studio did not provide individual numbers for Godzilla in China in its 3rd frame, but the cume there to date is now $75.1M. The monster roars next in Japan on July 25 via Toho.

Speaking of Japan, Noah continues to perform there where it added $1M from 228 locations and took the 2nd spot after the seemingly unstoppable Frozen. That’s down 46% in its 3rd frame for a $10.6M cume. The overseas total is now $258M.

1ST UPDATE, SATURDAY, 8:51 AM PT:Transformers: Age Of Extinction added $52M on Friday in 36 overseas markets. That takes the three-day cume to $80M headed into Saturday. Par says the Friday result is 42% above Dark Of The Moon which opened to $161M in similar markets in 2011. The numbers so far are strong and Paramount is rolling out in markets that are most susceptible to the charms of Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee and the rest of the shape-shifting gang. China, Korea, Russia and Australia were among the top territories for the last film in the series. Through Friday the worldwide cume on TAOE is $121.6M.

China officially bowed on Friday after taking $3.5M in midnights Thursday and early estimates in the Middle Kingdom are just over $30M for its opening day. If the estimates hold, that will be the biggest opening day for a foreign film ever in the market. The movie has strong ties to China including local partners, talent and locations. It had been expected to do remarkable business there, following in the footsteps of pics like last year’s Iron Man 3 which also had a huge local profile. Another enticement for Chinese audiences is their very own Li Bingbing who co-stars alongside Mark Wahlberg, the new male lead for this installment of the franchise. There are also a record number of IMAX screens in China — 148 of the total 619 IMAX screens globally — which is a record number for a film in this market.

In other major overseas bows, TAOE had the 2nd biggest Friday ever in Russia at $4.5M, just below IM3. Friday was up 52% over Thursday for a local cume of $10.4M. Korea grossed $3M on Friday, the biggest of 2014. However, it’s still placing as the No. 2 movie of the franchise. Cume to date is $9.1M. Australia brought in $1.8M, for a local total thus far of $4.6M. Par says it was 3% above X-Men: Days Of Future Past and TASM2.

Elsewhere in Asia Pacific, Taiwan grossed $1.5M on Friday for a $4.1M cume. It was the biggest Friday there for the year. TAOE recorded the biggest Fridays ever In Malaysia ($1.5M, 91% up on DOTM, $3.2M cume); Singapore ($1M, 22% up on DOTM, $1.8M cume); Indonesia ($936K, 175% up on DOTM, $2.4M cume); and Thailand ($765K, 10% up on DOTM, $2.M cume).

PREVIOUSLY, FRIDAY, 10:09 PST: Michael Bay’s Transformers: Age Of Extinction has, as expected, opened to big numbers overseas. Through Thursday in its first debut markets, the movie has taken $30M. That includes what Paramount says are record-setting midnight previews in China. In all this weekend, the film is rolling out in 37 international markets. So far, according to the studio, it is No. 1 in the 22 that went early. The markets it will cover this weekend equal about 60% of the overseas footprint. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, the last movie in the franchise, took $162M in the same market debuts in 2011. Each of the previous Transformers franchise films has bested the previous one internationally. Latin America and Asia have been the biggest growth areas.

In China, which officially opens today (Friday), the record is an estimated $3.5M for the first midnight showings last night. Of that, $625K came from IMAX screens — there are 619 IMAX screens globally, including a record 148 in China. The China score for Age Of Extinction bested the previous record holder Iron Man 3 by 70% and Dark Of The Moon by 75%.

Elsewhere, Age Of Extinction had the biggest opening day of 2014 in Korea, the fast-burn, and increasingly important grand-spectacle-loving country, with $2.5M and $6M including previews. However, that was only good for the 2nd biggest score of the franchise.

In Taiwan, TAOE had the biggest opening day of all time with $1.4M and a cume of $2.6M. Hong Kong posted $1M for the 2nd biggest opening day of all time and the biggest Paramount and franchise opening day, 37% ahead of Dark Of The Moon.

Outside of Asia, Russia opened to $5.5M, the 2nd biggest of all time and biggest opening day of 2014. The bow outperformed Dark Of The Moon by 15%.

Along with China, 14 other overseas markets open today. The film has deep ties to the Middle Kingdom where it was partly shot and was subject to a cooperation agreement with local companies. It also features an Asia-centric latter quarter and local star Li Bingbing.

Basically everything else (except the World Cup – although Age Of Extinction doesn’t hit the most tournament concerned Latin American and Western European markets until the waning days of the football-fest) has gotten out of the way of Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots. The Fault In Our Stars, Jersey Boys and How To Train Your Dragon 2 are expanding into a handful more territories this weekend.

So, are we looking at a transformative opening weekend worldwide or will so-so reviews hurt the TAOE blast off? We’ll know more as the frame rides along, but it’s a fair bet that China will be much more significant this time around given the growth in the market since 2011 and the film’s huge profile there. It premiered in Hong Kong on June 19 and just closed the Shanghai International Film Festival on Sunday. Dark Of The Moon made $165.5M in China, the 2nd biggest imported film ever in the market. It’s worth noting that the Transformers film prior to that earned only $66M there, another sign of the significant growth and impact of the Chinese market. After potentially stirring the pot last week, Age Of Extinction sponsor Pangu Investments has been mollified. Paramount and Pangu resolved the accusation that the studio breached its promise to feature its Pangu Plaza Hotel in the movie in the wake of Pangu‘s attempt to delay the film’s China opening by demanding cuts.

For reference, Dark Of The Moon’s top grossing markets were China, Korea, Japan, the UK, Russia, Australia, Germany, Mexico, France and Brazil.

Territory round-ups

CHINA
As stated above re Transformers: Age Of Extinction, this is believed to be the only time in history that a film has opened to $90M+ in the two biggest territories in the world, the U.S. and China. Paramount says it took in $91.9M total here. That TAOE was going to do well in the Middle Kingdom was expected. With a bow bigger than Iron Man 3’s last year, and well above it at that, it looks like a nice dovetail of a franchise with built-in awareness coupled with high-profile ties to the world’s second biggest box office market. The movie was made under a cooperation agreement with some locally-based entities, shot in Hong Kong and on the Mainland, and employed local talent including star Li Bingbing. The nice promotional push from the HK premiere and the closing of the Shanghai Film Festival, plus, one imagines, a desire to keep the momentum going, were robust when confronted with the 11th–hour complaints by local sponsor Pangu Investments. A product placement deal that evidently left the product placers nonplussed was unlikely to ever thwart the film’s release and was promptly resolved. But it might add fodder to the list of cautionary tales when doing business in the highly non-transparent market. Meanwhile, not to be drowned out in the Age Of Extinction crush is The Breakup Guru. The Beijing Englight Pictures production opened to $20.5M at home this weekend. Not to be confused with Fox International’s German hit by Matthias Schweighöfer, The Break-Up Man (Schlussmacher), this film is directed by and stars Chao Deng. The romantic comedy about a fixer who terminates the relationships of celebrities and socialites through various means, bowed Stateside via China Lion to $67K and was pretty much excoriated by The New York Times.

JAPANFrozen is still No. 1 in Japan – for the 16th week in a row – but could face competition from Disney’s own Maleficent when it opens next weekend. Also bowing next weekend is Edge Of Tomorrow. Oblivion opened to $9.8M last year which could portend well for the Tom Cruise actioner. Speaking of Cruise, some of the current high-profile pics in the market include Mission Impossible: Samurai. It’s unrelated to the Cruise action franchise, but the period comedy about a samurai who has to complete a tough task in a short span, made $1.97M on 251 screens last weekend, FilmBizAsia reported this week. By the way, if Frozen were to overtake Titanic as the No. 1 Western film of all time in the market, it would have to earn about another $20M. The Johnny Depp-starring Transcendence opened to the No. 3 slot this weekend with a total gross of $1.4M (including previews) on 535 screens via distributor Pony. Meanwhile, Noah has continued to find smooth sailing in the market where it was No. 5 this week with $976K from 228 locations for a strong $10.6M cume. Overall, Noah grossed $1.1M from 10 territories for an overall international cume of $258M.

BRAZIL/LATIN AMERICA
World Cup host country Brazil and its guests continue to play the beautiful game on pitches around the country. And those that are not quite so inclined to follow along are heading out to see two movies that Fox has smartly counterprogrammed against the sport. How To Train Your Dragon 2 was No. 1 in the market for the 2nd weekend in a row with $2.79M on 894 screens and a cume of $11.4M, much better than expected during the World Cup. Just below that, The Fault In Our Stars was No. 2 in its 4th outing. It earned $2.18M for a local haul of $21.5M. The film had other openings in Latin America this frame with No. 1s in Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Uruguay. Heaven in For Real added 720K on 471 screens in 11 markets, bringing its international cume to $4.3M. This profit maker opened in Mexico to $338K on 210 runs, Central America with $140K on 63 dates, Columbia tallied $107K on 36 locales.

KOREA
Korea’s No. 1 movie this weekend, as was the case in many Asian markets, was Transformers: Age Of Extinction. In this important and growing market, however, TAOE didn’t beat the previous film in the franchise, Dark Of The Moon, in its opening. It wasn’t off by far, though. TAOE bowed to an estimated $21.7M and DOTM to $21.8M. And one reasoning behind this is that the 2011 level was so big that it would have been hard to sustain, especially as that year was the sweet spot for 3D. Paramount noted that it had 80% of the market share in Korea and opened 39% ahead of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and 42% of X-Men: Days of Future Past.

FRANCETranscendence, which has been rolling out for some time now internationally, was the No. 1 debut in the market this week with $2.1M from 520 screens. This was the first place it opened in both 2D and 3D versions, and with largely French films in the market, likely benefitted from the World Cup counterprogramming and Depp’s popularity as a longtime local. Fox’s The Other Woman took another $1.1M in France this week for a 16% drop and a cume of $3M on 387 screens. A Million Ways To Die In The Westis opening July 2 here and in Switzerland. It will open in Spain on July 4th.

GERMANYThe Fault In Our Stars lost the No. 1 spot it was hoping for (which would have given it three in a row) as it grossed $1.3M on 621 screens ($2,093 per) and was edged out by Disney’s Maleficentwhich grossed $1.4M in the territory in 547 runs (for a $2,559 per screen). Locally, Disney’s animated The Pirate Fairy is reported at No. 3 and Universal’s A Million Ways To Die In The West is No. 4 in week five with $597K at 479 dates for a 32-day total of $7.2M. Meanwhile, Boyhood, which Universal is releasing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, grossed an estimated $348K at 204 dates for a total of $1.979M.

RUSSIATAOE enjoyed the 2nd biggest opening of all time in Russia with an estimated $21.2M at 1,100 locations. That was good for a 48% uptick over DOTM, but it is playing below Iron Man 3 in the market so far. With 3D repping 80% of the total gross, TAOE also set Russia’s all time IMAX weekend of $2.6M on 34 screens. The overall open was 48% bigger than DOTM.

13 Comments

“The markets it will cover this weekend equal about 60% of the overseas footprint” is very helpful in understanding the international marketplace and providing perspective.

junaid • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

poor movie. EOT was the summer best

no thank you • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

Will the worldwide three day gross exceed $400M? Has that ever happened before? It looks like both China and the North American markets will both gross greater then $90M for the same three day weekend. Is that the future of event film releases?

The last Happy Potter film crossed 400 million worldwide it’s opening weekend. I totally expected a big global opening for this, but time will determine if it has legs or not.

Anonymous • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

It won’t do 400 million for 3 day gross as not released in all markets yet as Deathly Hallows Part 2 was, e.g. Latin America, Western Europe etc. not out until early-mid July.

Mohammed • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

Now we can add the Chinese to the list of big box office movie market with no taste.

nerdrage • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

Face it, the world has no taste, that’s pretty obvious. But maybe the world will redeem itself a little by making Guardians of the Galaxy a big hit. Great art it ain’t, but at least it’s not a sequel to anything (although no doubt will generate many).

Mohammed • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

I’ve come to see Marvel as a force for evil, so I’m not rooting for that one. The only time I’ll root for a blockbuster is when it’s directed by James Cameron (he’s like the Usain Bolt of filmmaking; by now you just wanna see if he can outdo his last effort) and anything involving Batman, preferably a movie just about Batman.

MD • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

Why do I get the feeling that these aren’t 100% authentic numbers? I call BS.

Anonymous • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

The success of the latest Transformers film does not mean that a world-wide movie audience has no taste.One film’s success is not a primary indicator of pop culture taste,however when almost all the huge money is made in comic-book, super-hero, vampire, zombie,animated cartoon films, yes then it is pretty darn conclusive.

bob • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

Transformers… Again? Yawn!

Anonymous • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

How long can this transformers train keep going for??

BOOM! BOOM! P O W!!!!!!$$$$!!!!! • on Jun 30, 2014 2:30 pm

The international numbers for TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION are so jarringly huge(+200 MILLION DOLLARS), it just floors me. O.M.G.- THE CHINA NUMBERS!?!- 92 MILLION DOLLAR OPENING WEEKEND! And it hasn’t even opened in Europe or the Latin American countries yet??? OMG!